Eternal English Teachers

You probably know someone who is a walking English teacher. These people have a condition which is like grammar Nazism and trolling combined. They
can't stop correcting others, even though their corrections are irrelevant and there is no fixed standard.

Why are they like trolls? They focus on insubstantial issues by adhering to their own paradigm of ''correctness''. They are LIKE trolls, but they
aren't real-life trolls, because they truly believe in what they are doing.

People who do the above are often rigid in all areas of their lives.

If you get carried away, the gist of the conversation is no longer the most important part, but whether your grammar/pronunciation/what have you is
correct.

It is one thing to teach someone English, but it is another to extend that umbrella over everyone you meet.

Funnily enough, people with enormous linguistic knowledge rarely, if ever, feel the need to correct anyone because they understand language is a
malleable mechanism, plus they don't have to show how proficient they are. It is self-evident.

In essence, the eternal correctors are trying to show how smart they are; what they are really showing is ineptness and self-esteem issues. Perhaps
they lack an internal sense of security and predictable language patters give them just that. Your guess is as good as mine.

These individuals exist in all shapes and sizes, but the English language is so widespread that eternal English teachers just can't resist the
temptation.

My wife often calls me a grammatical d***head... but it's just because I pick these things out. It bothers me when there are grammatical issues and
spelling issues in published materials, because -- at the very least -- everything you're using to write those materials has integrated spell-check
and grammar-check abilities. And I tend to be one of those people that will walk into a room and quickly scan every piece of text in the place. (To
the point where I will sometimes notice a phrase, then spend the next 5 minutes trying to find where I saw it.)

I won't be the one to tell you that your argument is invalid because you used the wrong [there, their, they're], but if I know you well enough, I
may chastise you for it. What bothers me is when someone obviously doesn't care. They're not difficult rules to follow, but they can make all the
difference in actually communicating. As for the language being malleable... yes. But not to a ridiculous level. Knowing the rules, and choosing to
bend them is very different from not knowing the rules, and being militant about it.

If the language is so malleable, then what is the point in bothering with learning the proper spelling and usage of words in the first place? They're
just going to get jumbled up in the end by people too incompetent to properly use them.

My wife often calls me a grammatical d***head... but it's just because I pick these things out. It bothers me when there are grammatical issues and
spelling issues in published materials, because -- at the very least -- everything you're using to write those materials has integrated spell-check
and grammar-check abilities. And I tend to be one of those people that will walk into a room and quickly scan every piece of text in the place. (To
the point where I will sometimes notice a phrase, then spend the next 5 minutes trying to find where I saw it.)

I won't be the one to tell you that your argument is invalid because you used the wrong [there, their, they're], but if I know you well enough, I
may chastise you for it. What bothers me is when someone obviously doesn't care. They're not difficult rules to follow, but they can make all the
difference in actually communicating. As for the language being malleable... yes. But not to a ridiculous level. Knowing the rules, and choosing to
bend them is very different from not knowing the rules, and being militant about it.

If the language is so malleable, then what is the point in bothering with learning the proper spelling and usage of words in the first place? They're
just going to get jumbled up in the end by people too incompetent to properly use them.

Of course, a certain level of competence MUST be present. The words: certain level are relative and we know what happens then.

When people get aggravated from being corrected on what they write, what I hear is, "I don't care how sloppy my writing is, so you just have to put up
with it."

Just the opposite, if I make a persistent error in my writing I want to know about it.

Plus, those of us that have been involved in reading and writing over the years have become conditioned to decent form in what we read. It isn't so
much that we want to pick someone apart, it's that reading garbage is literally painful. The only way to stop that pain is to inform sloppy writers to
stop it! lol

There's a difference between reading something where English is a second language and reading something written by lazy people. I'll forgive the
second language, but if lazy writers don't want to put in the time to make their writing legible, why should any of us take the time to read it?

When people get aggravated from being corrected on what they write, what I hear is, "I don't care how sloppy my writing is, so you just have to put
up with it."

Just the opposite, if I make a persistent error in my writing I want to know about it.

Plus, those of us that have been involved in reading and writing over the years have become conditioned to decent form in what we read. It isn't so
much that we want to pick someone apart, it's that reading garbage is literally painful. The only way to stop that pain is to inform sloppy writers
to stop it! lol

There's a difference between reading something where English is a second language and reading something written by lazy people. I'll forgive the
second language, but if lazy writers don't want to put in the time to make their writing legible, why should any of us take the time to read it?

No capital letters, no punctuation, no me.

edit on 2/22/2013 by jiggerj because: (no reason given)

That's a valid argument, but there are groups which use non-mainstream language as their own not because they disrespect their readership, but rather
that's all they know.

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